JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Despite the great importance of potassium applied as a fertilizer in the orange orchards, no information is currently available regarding the rate of potassium release from rhizosphere and the bulk soils of such trees. The objectives of this study were to investigate the weathering of micaceous minerals and their non-exchangeable K release and also, to examine the status of different forms of K in the rhizosphere and bulk soils of orange orchards with different ages in Darab, Fars Province. Samples were, accordingly, taken from the rhizosphere and bulk soils of orange orchards with the ages of 5, 10 and 20 years; also, virgin soils (control) were obtained from three soil depths including 0–30, 30–60, and 60–100 cm. Water soluble, exchangeable and nonexchangeable K, and the clay mineralogy of the soils were determined. The results demonstrated that the concentration of soluble and exchangeable K in the cultivated soils was less than that in the control soil and that the concentration of nonexchangeable K in the soils of 20-year-old orchards was less, than that in other soils. Soluble and exchangeable K values decreased with depth in all soils. Clay mineralogy investigation also showed that the quantity of illite decreased and that of smectite and illite-smectite increased as the age of orange trees was raised. With increasing the age of orange trees and root development, more potassium could be taken up from soil and more changes occurred in the soil minerals. In order to avoid a very high decline in the reserved K in the soils under orange trees, particularly in the orchards with older trees, K fertilization has to be taken more seriously based on the soil testing results.

The purpose of this study was to model the relationship between the frequency of dust storms and climatic variables in desert areas of Iran. For this purpose, climatic data of temperature (maximum and minimum), rainfall, wind speed (maximum and minimum), and their relationship with the number of days with dust recorded in 25 meteorological stations (statistical period since their inception until 2014) in summer using Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression method multivariate was analyzed in SPSS software. Also, due to regional analysis, correlation coefficient between climatic variables and frequency of drought storms in desert areas of Iran, the mapping of these coefficients was prepared by method of Inverse distance weighting (IDW) in Arc GIS software. The results showed that the stations in the south and southwest of the study area have the highest dust incidence in the summer season. So that Zabul station with (3892 days) has the most frequent occurrence of dust storms. In most stations, there was a significant relationship between the frequency of dust storms and the variables of average wind speed and maximum wind speed. The highest correlation coefficient of the mean wind speed was related to the station of the Chabahar Konarak with correlation coefficient of 0.710 and Iranshahr station with a correlation coefficient of 0.65, showed the highest correlation with maximum wind speed. The maximum temperature variable at Qom station with a correlation coefficient of 0.398 shows a significant and positive relationship. Iranshahr station has a correlation coefficient of -0.620 with a mean temperature and Minab station has a correlation coefficient of -0.446 with maximum temperature. The results of temperature correlation with the frequency of dust storms indicate that ground low pressure is effective in creating the phenomena in the warm course of the year. Most stations have inverse correlation with precipitation. The highest correlation coefficients between precipitation and dust events were observed at -0.208 and -0.185 at east of Isfahan and Torbat Heidariyeh stations, respectively. Multivariate regression modelling between dust and climatic variables in summer also shows that the most important parameter in dust events are average wind speed, maximum wind speed and average temperature. Regression models show that, at the best condition, climate variables explain only 70% of the variation of dust frequency.

The use of free launch jets in flip bucket structures with associated submerged ponds, in the appropriate geological, and topographic and hydraulic conditions, could have significant economic and safety benefits. In this research, the downstream scour phenomenon of a flip bucket jet was investigated in free conditions, as well as in the presence of a trapezoidal and triangular slot in the coastal manner with different layout intervals at flow rate of 9, with a total of 45 experiments. The results of this study showed that the presence of the slot had significant effects on the depth and range of scour, so that the fit bucket jet with alternate triangular slots reduced the scour by about 12.7%, as compared to the no slot mode. Moreover, the maximum scour depth occurred in the bucket mode with the alternate trapezoidal slots in the more favorable interval than the rest of the models. Then, the results were compared with several empirical formulas and Veronese A relation showed closer results to the actual values.

Expert aquatic designers face many problems; among these, in hydrology, defective occurrences in time-series can cause errors in the ultimate results of the study. This more often happens in the regions where the number of hydrometric and rain gauge stations is limited. In addition, assessing, developing and maintaining the use of water resources require accessible long-term and high-quality quality hydrological time-series. Thus, this necessitates correcting the statistical flaws and magnifies the importance of how to deal with the problems in the hydrological analyses. Statistical methods are, currently, used to infill data and statistical gaps. In this study, in order to introduce a multivariate method for estimating the missing data on rainfall and runoff, in a hydrologic homogeneous region in the Mazandaran province, self-organizing map methods were examined under two scenarios and some reliable estimates were obtained. In this regard, the correlation coefficients between the observational data and the model output were calculated for the precipitation data up to 0.92 and up to 0.95 for the runoff data. Therefore, to avoid the reduction of uncertainty caused by the inadequate data in water resource management, this method could be used.

A ‘spillway’ is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flood water from upstream into downstream area of a dam. As an important component of every dam, a spillway should be constructed strongly, reliably and efficiently to be used at any moment. Labyrinth and stepped spillways are presented as appropriate modifications to those spillways hardly capable of managing the maximum potential discharge. Owing to their nonlinear crests for a given width, labyrinth and stepped spillways have a larger discharge rate than linear- crest spillways at an identical height. Compared to other energy dissipaters, the combination of stepped and labyrinth spillways is known as a very strong energy dissipater. In the following part, the combination of these two structures and their dimensional change for increasing the water- energy dissipation are addressed. To conduct this study, an experimental flume with a 90- degree bend in the Islamic Azad University of Ahwaz was used. In total, 90 experiments were conducted on three different labyrinth- shape stepped spillway models with two different lengths, three different widths, and five different discharges. Analysis of the results showed a greater energy loss reduction in triangular rather than rectangular or trapezoidal labyrinth- shape stepped spillways. In addition, energy loss was greater in labyrinth spillways with two cycles than those with one cycle. Energy loss was increased by raising the Froude number from 0.05 to 0.1; in contrast, energy loss was decreased with increasing the Froude number from 0.1 to 1.0, which was due to the submergence of steps, a decrease in the roughness of steps and an increase in the intensity of aeration.

One of the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the use of energy for groundwater pumping. Reducing energy consumption is very important to achieve the environmental sustainability and decrease the climate change impacts. In this paper, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from groundwater pumping in the Guilan’s aquifers was investigated. Firstly, groundwater depletion and the types of pumps for water pumping were examined in the current condition; then, the values of consumed energy, GHG emissions and climate change indicator of the current condition were estimated. The primary investigations showed that 55 percent of wells in the studied region had a diesel engine pump, while 51.3 percent of the required energy for groundwater pumping was supplied by electric pump. Calculated total GHG emissions and the value of climate change indicator in the current condition were equal to 8.98 and 7.59 Milion kg CO₂ eq , respectively. In order to achieve environmental sustainability and energy security, scenarios of replacing electric pumps and applying solar energy were examined. The results of the scenarios showed that diesel fuel wells had no significant effect on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but the use of solar energy reduced them. GHG emissions, in comparison with the base scenarios, were decreased by 44.4% in June, July and August, respectively, by applying the scenario of using the solar pump in agricultural section. Therefore, it is preferred to apply policies in future planning to use renewable energies such as solar energy instead of diesel and electricity energy.

Astragalus fasciculifolius is one of the most distributed plant species in the arid and semiarid regions of southern Iran. It may be well grown on roadside. This investigation was carried out to study the effect of road and its traffic intensity on the soil physicochemical properties and plant nutrients availability of roadside and to monitor the concentration of nutrients in the aerial parts of Astragalus fasciculifolius. Thirty soil and plant samples from roadside and 100 m distance from road were randomly collected and some physicochemical soil properties and nutrients availability were determined. Concentrations of the nutrients in the aerial parts of the plants were also determined. The results indicated that roadside soils had more sand and calcium carbonate equivalent than the adjacent lands. Soils of the main roadside had less K and more Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu than the adjacent lands; this difference in local road was observed only for Fe and Cu. Nutrients concentration in the aerial parts of the plants was affected by road, and P, K, Mn and Zn showed significant increases in the roadside plants. Concentrations of P, Fe, Zn and Cu in plants grown in main roadside and concentrations of Fe and Zn in plants grown in the local roadside were correlated with their contents in the soils. The effect of roads on soil properties change and nutrients availability may be related to the addition of road bed and emission of vehicles. Generally, it could be concluded that roadside soils had more suitable water and nutrition conditions for the growth of Astragalus fasciculifolius, as compared to the soils of the adjacent lands.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the temporal variations of dust phenomenon and its relationship with the climatic elements in Yazd city, located near one of the critical centers of dust production in the center of Iran. For this purpose, the Dust Storm Index was first calculated. After the standardization of precipitation, temperature, maximum wind speed, average wind speed, relative humidity and, dust storm index, the co-linearity effect between variables was calculated by using inflation variance factor. Then, several regression models were prepared based on the optimal Ridge parameter. The performance of the models was evaluated based on the determination coefficient, F value and Root Mean Square Error. Finally, by using the most accurate model, the impact of climate parameters on the dust events changes was determined. The results showed that the incidence of dust events in the spring was more than the rest of the year. Based on the optimal model (Model 12), it was found that the main factor influencing the dust storm index variations in different seasons was the surface winds speed. It was also shown that 39%, 25%, 46% and 31% of dust storm index changes in winter, spring, summer, and autumn were due to the interaction of the five climatic parameters studied in this study.

The use of additives to modify the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of soil and soil stabilization is one of the most common methods that have a history. By adding one or more additives to the soil and carrying out the required measures, the engineering properties of soils could be improved due to chemical reactions. Selecting the type and amount of additive depends on several factors such as: soil type, stabilization purpose, additives inherent characteristics, etc.; these are determined based on the technical and economic aspects of the projects. In this study, the effects of the simultaneous use of three types of additives including lime, stone powder and polypropylene fibers on the unconfined compressive strength of a clayey soil were investigated.  To do this, four different levels of lime (0, 2, 3 and 5 percent by weight of soil) and four different levels of stone powder waste (0, 2, 5 and 10 percent by weight of soil) and Polypropylene fibers with different percentages in five levels of 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 percent by weight of soil were added into a high plastic clay soil classified as CH. Then, some physical and mechanical characteristics of different mixtures including plasticity, compaction and unconfined compressive strength were determined. The results showed that the samples were stabilized with lime and stone powder waste and reinforcement them with polypropylene fibers modified Atterberg Limits, optimum moisture and maximum dry density of the mixtures. Also, it was found that a combination of waste stone powder, lime and polypropylene fibers containing 5, 5 and 1 percent by weight of soil increased the unconfined compressive strength 8-fold, as compared to the natural soil. The curing time also had a significant impact on the compressive strength of the treated samples in which the 28-day compressive strength of was found to be about 2 times of the 7-day samples.

Inclined drop is one of the supercritical flow producers used in open channels to reduce slope and elevation of the ground. Given that the application of horizontal and vertical screen in the downstream of this drop as an energy dissipater can be effective in the n energy dissipation of flow, in the present study, 180 different experiments were performed to investigate the energy dissipation of flow. The results showed that the angle of the drop had no marginal impact on energy dissipation and the relative depth of downstream of inclined drop equipped with a vertical screen, but increasing the porosity of screen caused enhancement in both parameters. Also, for the inclined drop equipped with a horizontal screen, by increasing angle and decreasing the porosity of screen, the energy dissipation and relative depth of downstream were raised. Also, for inclined drop equipped with a horizontal screen, by increasing the angle and decreasing the porosity of screen, the energy dissipation and relative depth of downstream were enhanced. For a constant relative critical depth, the relative depth of downstream and the energy dissipation of the inclined drop equipped with a horizontal screen considered the function of the wetted length of screen and length of the drop. For vertical screen, it is only a function of screen porosity.

Digital soil mapping plays an important role in upgrading the knowledge of soil survey in line with the advances in the spatial data of infrastructure development. The main aim of this study was to provide a digital map of the soil family classes using the random forest (RF) models and boosting regression tree (BRT) in a semi-arid region of Ilam province. Environmental covariates were extracted from a digital elevation model with 30 m spatial resolution, using the SAGAGIS7.3 software. In this study area, 46 soil profiles were dug and sampled; after physico-chemical analysis, the soils were classified based on key to soil taxonomy (2014). In the studied area, three orders were recognized: Mollisols, Inceptisols, and Entisols. Based on the results of the environmental covariate data mining with variance inflation factor (VIF), some parameters including DEM, standard height and terrain ruggedness index were the most important variables. The best spatial prediction of soil classes belonged to Fine, carbonatic, thermic, Typic Haploxerolls. Also, the results showed that RF and BRT models had an overall accuracy and of 0.80, 0.64 and Kappa index 0.70, 0.55, respectively. Therefore, the RF method could serve as a reliable and accurate method to provide a reasonable prediction with a low sampling density.

The interaction of population growth, technological improvement and climate change have impacted severely on agricultural and environmental sustainability. In Iran, conventional tillage practice has resulted in soil erosion and loss of soil organic matter. In this regard, Conservation Agriculture (CA) forms part of this alternative paradigm to agricultural production systems approaches and can be regarded as a means to enhancing food productivity, reducing poverty, and mitigating the consequences of climate change in rural households. The objectives of this study were to examine the determinants and impacts of CA technology on wheat yield, poverty gap and water use. To this end, an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model was employed to estimate the impacts of CA technology on continuous variables such as wheat yield, poverty gap and water use. A sample of 260 farmers from Zarghan district was selected for interview collection of necessary farm level data. The results indicated that in the select equation of ESR model, ten coefficients (out of 12) are significant at the 5% level or higher. Knowledge of soil quality, access to credit, access to information, education, farm size, ownership of machinery, participation in agricultural extension activities and farmer’ perception have positive and significant effects on the probability of adopting CA. In contrast, variables such as the distance to shopping center and number of land parcels have negative and significant influence on adoption. Also, the results of ESR model and counterfactual analysis showed that wheat yield would increase by 1.05 tons and poverty gap and water use would decrease by 20% and 910 cubic meters per hectare respectively if farmers adopt CA technology.

Rainfall may be considered as the most important source of drinking water and watering land in different areas all over the world. Therefore, simulation and estimation of the hydrological phenomenon is of paramount importance. In this study, for the first time, the long-term rainfall in Rasht city was simulated using an optimum hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) model over a 62 year period from 1956 to 2017. The gene expression programming (GEP) and wavelet transform (WT) were combined to develop the hybrid AI model (WGEP). Firstly, the most effective lags of time series data were identified by means of the autocorrelation function (ACF); then eight various GEP and WGEP models were defined. Next, the GEP models were analyzed and the superior GEP model as well as the most influenced lags was detected. For instance, the variance accounting for (VAF), correlation coefficient (R) and scatter index (SI) for the superior GEP model was calculated to be 0.765, 0.508 and 0.709, respectively. Additionally, lags (t-1), (t-2), (t-3) and (t-12) were the most influenced. Then, the different mother wavelets were examined, indicating that the demy mother wavelet was the most optimal one. Moreover, analyzing the numerical simulations showed that the mother wavelet enhanced the performance of the GEP model significantly. For example, the VAF index for the superior WGEP model was increased almost three times after using the mother wavelet. Furthermore, the R and MARE statistical indices for the WGEP model were computed to be 0.935 and 0.862, respectively.

The occurrence of wind erosion and the spread of dust particles can be regarded as one of the most important and threatening environmental factors. Climate change and the frequency of droughts have played an important role in exacerbating or weakening these events. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the trend of changes in four important climatic elements (precipitation, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity) and dust storm index (DSI) in Qazvin city using the Mann-Kendall pre-whitened test and to determine the relationship between them based on the multiple linear regression method. Assessment of the meteorological drought status based on two standardized precipitation index and standardized precipitation, as well as the evapotranspiration index and analysis of their effect on activity level of dust events, was the other objective of this study in the study area. For this purpose, after preparing and processing the climatic data and calculating the dust storm index, the trend of changes and the relationship between climatic parameters and dust events were investigated. The results showed that the changes of trend in the annual precipitation and relative humidity in Qazvin city were increasing, while the trend of annual changes in the wind speed and the mean air temperature was a decreasing one. Investigation of the monthly changes in the dust events also showed that there was a sharp decrease in the occurrence of wind erosion and the spread of domestic dust particles only in July. On a seasonal scale, with the exception of winter that has been reported without trends, in other seasons, the intensity of these events was significantly reduced. The effect of the meteorological drought on wind erosion was estimated to be 11% at the confidence level of 99%. In general, these findings indicate a decreasing trend of land degradation and desertification caused by wind erosion in Qazvin.

Lopac gates, with the benefits of easy installation, automation and the ability to pass sediments and floating objects, are among the new structures considered for water level regulation and flow control in the irrigation canals. Converting the shape of the gate from a rectangular one to an elliptical one allows the flow rate to be increased by the same water level. In the present study, the effect of the sudden transition on the discharge and energy dissipation of the elliptical-lopac gate (ELG) in the submerged flow conditions was evaluated in the laboratory. The results showed that the dimensionless discharge and energy dissipation of the ELG with sudden transition to channel width conditions was decreased by 28 to 86% and increased by 11 to 35%, respectively. Finally, the statistical equations were presented to estimate the dimensionless discharge and energy dissipation of ELG by sudden transition under submerged flow conditions with a maximum error of 16%.

Drought, as one of the most complicated natural events, causes many direct and indirect damages each year. Hence, single variable identification and monitoring of drought may not be appropriate enough for decision-making and management. In this study, in order to monitor the meteorological-agricultural drought in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Multivariate Standardized Drought Index (MSDI) was calculated using precipitation and soil moisture variables. In addition, to evaluate the performance of MSDI in drought identification and monitoring, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Soil Moisture Index (SSI) were used for meteorological and agricultural drought monitoring, respectively. MSDI was calculated based on the soil moisture and precipitation joint probabilities. We used the Gringorten probability as an empirical method and Archimedean copulas as the parametric method to calculate the joint probability between soil moisture and precipitation time series. The results indicated that MSDI was twice more capable of detecting drought as SSI and SPI. Furthermore, the MSDI-based drought monitoring results showed Charmahal and Bakhtiari province had experienced severe meteorological-agricultural drought in 2000, 2008, 2011 and 2014.

Nowadays, the prediction of river discharge is one of the important issues in hydrology and water resources; the results of daily river discharge pattern could be used in the management of water resources and hydraulic structures and flood prediction. In this research, Gene Expression Programming (GEP), parametric Linear Regression (LR), parametric Nonlinear Regression (NLR) and non-parametric K- Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) were used to predict the average daily discharge of Karun River in Mollasani hydrometric station for the statistical period of 1967-2017. Different combinations of the recorded data were used as the input pattern to predict the mean daily river discharge. The obtained esults  indicated that GEP, with R²= 0.827, RMSE= 59.45 and MAE= 26.64, had a  better performance, as compared to LR, NLR and K-NN methods, at the  validation stage for daily Karun River discharge prediction with 5-day lag, at the Mollasani station. Also, the performance of the models in the maximum discharge prediction showed that all models underestimated the flow discharge in most cases. 

The study of floods has always been important for researchers due to the great loss of life and property. Investigation of flood bed can provide appropriate solutions to reduce this phenomenon to managers and researchers. In this research, the compound channel (with flood plain on one side of the main channel) Been paid, Therefore, two experimental models of compound channel in laboratory flume were examined by considering dimensional analysis. With the goal Investigation of lateral slope of flood wall in laboratory model In the first model, transverse slope 0 And in the second model, a value equal to 50% Was considered. Also in order to investigate the effect of longitudinal slope of river bed sediments Longitudinal slope in three steps 0.00 2, 0.004 and 0.006 Was changed. Examining the ADV speedometer data, the results showed that with increasing the longitudinal and transverse slope (slope of the flood wall) of the channel, the maximum longitudinal velocity changes to the floor of the channel. In order to investigate the effect of average sediment diameter on the scouring process during experiments Mm was used. The results showed that increasing the longitudinal and transverse slope had a great effect on increasing the volume of washed sediments 3 and 0.9 of sandy sediments with a diameter Along the canal and with the increase of these longitudinal and transverse slopes in the channel, more sediment transport volume occurs. In the following, using Investigation of dimensionless numbers obtained from dimensional analysis, dimensionless weight landing number was introduced to evaluate this value value of other hydraulic parameters and Was introduced. A relationship based on nonlinear regression with correlation coefficient Acceptable was introduced at around 0.88.

The contact angle is a numerical index of differentiation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic soils. The objectives of this research are: 1) assessing different methods such as capillary rise, the molarity of ethanol droplet, repellency index, and sessile drop, and 2) Determining the most efficient method in a typical soil with sandy loam texture. In this study, hydrophobic soil was hydrophobized artificially using stearic acid and according to the water drop penetration time classification method. Calculated contact angles of hydrophilic soil with capillary rise method, the molarity of ethanol droplet method, repellency index (two methods of calculation), and sessile drop method were 89.9, 75.41, (57.81), 56.28, and 58.91, respectively. Using the contact angle measuring device, the contact angle of five hydrophobic levels were 58.91, 104.92, 120.48, 129.96, and 173.07, respectively. According to the precession of the device where the operator is capable to control data and processes and there is no limitation in usage, therefore, the sessile drop method is the most suitable method to measure contact angle. The contact angle of the late method and water drop penetration data are positively correlated (R² = 0.975).

To prevent demolishing bridge piles due to developing the scour hole under the foundation of these piles some solution has been proposed in the literature. One of the important approaches could be installing different geometric of roughness at the downstream and upstream piles sections. This causes the downward flows which are performing the main role in developing scour holes to be marginally decreased. The present study explores the effect of geometric roughness and also, continuity and un-continuity of roughness length on maximum scour holes around bridge pile. Results indicate that due to increasing the length of roughness the developed scour holes were formed by less scour hole depths. Furthermore, continuity of roughness increases the scour hole depths; however, un-continuity causes the height of scour holes to be developed by fewer values. Also, the comparison shows that the length of installed roughness in maximum value is decreasing the scour hole depth constitute 34 percent. Based on the non-linear regression technique an equation has been proposed to predict the maximum scour hole due to different conditions. Comparison between experimental and proposed values shows that the accuracy of the proposed equation has an acceptable error which has been calculated less than 11 percent.